Get eight tips from the celebrated French Culinary Institute founder, author and mom

The founder of renowned New York City–based cooking school the French Culinary Institute loves her job (and life) and wants you to love yours, too.

1. People sometimes stay in a job they hate because they're scared to make a change. They want the security of the paycheck. But if you love what you do, you don't mind putting in the hours. You'll get ahead in that profession because you go above and beyond what the job requires.

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2. A lot of people watch the Food Network for entertainment value. I'm amazed how often people come in to take a class and wind up standing there watching other people cook.

3. I'm a working mother. I don't have time to prepare food during the week. I love to have people over for dinner on the weekends, but if I have something to do on Saturday and can't spend all afternoon cooking, I have to come up with what Jacques Pépin would say is "fast food my way." Cooking delicious food does not have to take a lot of time.

4. I was never "police mom" with food. I tried to give my daughter, Olivia, lots of vegetables and open her up to different tastes, like kiwi, poppyseeds and raw onion. Now she's started a cooking club at her high school.

5. Borscht is a good food for kids. Beets are sweet and kids like sweet things. Call it "pink soup." You don't have to tell them it's beet soup. For a recipe, go to WomansDay.com/Dorothy.

6. School lunches don't have to be terrible. People say, "Oh, it's too expensive to give them good food." But it's not. You just have to be intelligent about it. We should be demanding good food in schools.

7. The one ingredient not to skimp on: extra-virgin olive oil. You don't need a lot of it, but to put that on a salad makes all the difference in the world. Buy the smallest bottle you can so it doesn't oxidize before you use it all up.

8. By denying somebody chocolate, you're gonna have people growing up especially liking chocolates. You need fat in your mouth for satisfaction. So as we say, everything in moderation, including moderation.

Interested in the culinary arts? Check out Dorothy's new book, Love What You Do($12.95;iUniverse.com).